Surrounding Darkness
by Gamewiz
Summary: The story of a Captain sent on a scouting mission from Earth to the Terran Sector after DuGalle's annihilation. R&R please! (7th chapter now in)
1. Chapter I: Shocking News

**Chapter I: Shocking News**

Captain James Ellior started out of the small, rectangular window of the Quantradyne APOD-33/L dropship, lost in his own sea of thoughts. The Quantradyne engine, the same engine used on the older 33/A models, propelled the Captain towards the headquarters of the United Earth Directorate. The Captain glanced down, breaking away from his thoughts for a moment, and took a sip from his brandy, the warmth of the liquid soothing him inside, while the chair his body rested in relaxed him into a small trance.Such luxuries would never be seen on the older 33/A models, with their numerous neosteel benches meant for packing in as many marines, or other various personnel, into one area as possible. The older models were the standard dropships used for transporting personnel or equipment, ranging from a specialist ghost to an arclite siege tank, on the battlefield from one place to another. Besides housing the same engine, neither dropship held any similarities in their looks or performances.Ellior continued to stare out the window, again with numerous memories and thoughts flooding his mind. He thought back to before the Revolutionary Days, when the United Powers Leagues still existed, and the UED was but a mere thought in someone's mind. It had been almost one hundred years since the UPL was founded, and when they undertook the largest project in this history of the world. "Project Purification", as it was to be called, was a massive "cleansing" operation meant to clear out all of the known criminals on Earth, which resulted in tremendous success. Crime across the globe declined dramatically and until the present day had seen an all-time low. There was only one downfall: the losses of contact with the ships the Nagglfar, Argo, Sarengo, and Reagon. The ships carried 56,000 of the total 400,000,000 felons that were captured and sentenced to death.

A young scientist named Doran Routhe, a brilliant man of his time, had the ingenious idea of trying to populate other remote star systems in hopes of discovering new, useful resources, since Earth's natural resources had been almost completely dried up. The UPL let the young researcher use a handful of the prisoners as "guinea pigs" in his experiment to see if there were any other habitable systems with useful resources. The four behemoths were headed for the nearest outlying planet, Gantris IV.

But during the long voyage into space, contact with the four ships carrying the hibernating passengers was lost. Despite the efforts of Routhe and the UPL, communications were never restored with the doomed passengers, until now.It was discovered that the four vessels crash-landed on several planets about 60,000 light years away from Earth. The survivors of the crash prospered greatly, expanded to numerous planets, and continued to grow rapidly in strength and numbers. Recent discovery of the lost exiles raised much alarm. The now recently founded UED feared that if this new human group, calling itself the Terran Dominion, which was run by a man that went by the name Arcturus Mengsk, was to become too strong, it would exact revenge upon Earth from banning them from their home world. Admiral DuGalle, a revered man and brilliant tactician who had served countless years with the Directorate Armed Forces, was sent with a large expeditionary task force to take control over the colonies of the new Terran Sector.Upon arrival, however, shocking news was discovered. It was reported back that the Terran colonies were engaged on a two-front war. Two powerful alien races, soon known as the Protoss and the Zerg, were fighting a massive campaign in a quest to destroy each other, with the small human forces stuck in the middle of it.For months, Admiral DuGalle remained at the fringe of the system, out of site from the three races at war. He began to study these newfound enemies and analyzed their strengths and weaknesses. When the time came, he launched his campaign against the three forces, determined to take control of the sector for the UED. Yet what he encountered was far more menacing than anyone could have anticipated.Admiral DuGalle had continuously reported back with the news of striking victories against the Terran Dominion, the ravenous Zerg, and the powerful Protoss forces. The Admiral even reported with news of the capture of the Zerg's main form of command, or "General", called the Overmind. A huge brain-like creature that was several stories high with a large diameter, which was encircled by hideous claws protruding upward to protect the large brain, gave the Zerg Swarms their orders. Administering powerful endorphins to subdue the creature, the UED forces were able to control the Overmind to do their bidding. With the recent capture of this brain, it seemed as though victory was in the UED's grasp.Ellior pushed the thoughts out of his mind as he continued to stare out the dirt-smeared window and surveyed the large, sprawling city below him. The shuttle flew just above the skyline of the streamlined skyscrapers that were strewn out all over the city. Off in the distance, the largest structure, the UED headquarters and his destination, loomed over the horizon, it's peaks seeming to pierce the sky.The young commander figured he was being called to HQ for a debriefing on the most recent news of the war. The officer of the 21st Reserve Tactical Fighter Squadron craved to be over there inside his A-17/G Wraith-class space fighter, sending his squadron into the fray to defend humanity. Yet HQ "insisted" he was needed here for the safety of Earth, even though they both knew Earth was in no present danger and would most likely never be. Captain James Ellior decided not to dwell on the subject and enjoyed the sunset that now started to engulf the evening sky with dazzling red and orange colors as the sun settled behind the Northern Mountains.The APOD-33/L stuttered as it began to slow its approach to the nearing UED building. The shuttle slowly descended onto the landing platform, touching down with a small thud. The officer stood up and walked to the door, tugging at the tips of his uniform to remove the wrinkles that had formed from sitting inside the shuttle for far too long.The shuttle doors hissed open and as the ramp lowered, reveal to the Captain a small greeting part of two Private first-class Marines, fully suited up in their complete combat armor. The armor, shaped like a large, steel, upright gorilla, made a man stand a few inches taller when suited up inside of it.The Captain noticed that these men were outfitted with the newer CMC 400 suits, as opposed to the 300 model. The CMC 400 gave new improvements such as better sensory equipment, which was housed inside the oversized shoulders, and night vision over the visor instead of the headlights attacked onto the shoulders. Both marines also carried their standard issue C-14 "Impaler" Gauss rifles, which shot out 8mm metal spikes at hypersonic speeds, capable of punching through most armor of any combat personnel.Technicians and mechanics were everywhere inside the large-scaled docking bay. A few A-17/Gs were being fixed up in the far corner, with a few very outdated A-17/As being used as parts, even though there wasn't much left to pick off from them. A mechanic and a technician were arguing to the left of the shuttle about how far the burst laser cannons on one of the fighters should be sighted in. There were a few T-280 Space Construction Vehicles, or SCVs as they were normally referred to, secured against the back wall ready to be loaded into by the mechanics should major repair work be need on any of the ships."Captain Ellior?" one of the privates asked as the Captain slowly walked down the ramp from the shuttle as he continued to survey the sights before him."That is correct, private," Ellior replied, trying to keep a sense of command, even though the two marines towered over him with their bulky armor."Please follow us."As the large APOD-33/L shuttle remained dormant in the hangar, with a few of the technicians being lured to it like ants to sugar, the two marines led the Captain through a small, winding corridor to a life that took them down below ground level and into the depths of the UED Headquarters. As the lift came to a halt, James gave one last tug at the ends of his uniform and straightened up as much as he could. The doors parted and revealed inside a very plain-looking room a single, long, rectangular table located in the center with chairs lined up against its sides. Three men were inside, hunched over various papers at the end of the table and mumbled to themselves as they pointed to different positions on a small, holographic map projected from a compact unit next to the papers.The man in the middle, a short, yet strong-built man, with a small mustache and brown hair with gray highlights lining the edges because of age, glanced up from the papers to meet the new arrival. The young Captain saluted him and the man saluted back. The man's dark brown eyes held a deep concern in them as they turned from the papers on the desk and met Ellior with a piercing stare."Captain Ellior, I thank you for arriving so quickly on such short notice," said the man. Ellior noticed that the man began to relax slightly.James Ellior nodded his head. "It was no problem, Commander Rikley. My days have been pretty lax for the past few weeks."The Commander gave Ellior a hard stare. "Well, that's all about to change starting now."He turned to the man on this right who had just finished jotting a small not down a piece of paper. "This is General Legiri. He's been in charge of the communications with Admiral DuGalle's fleet and the progress of the war."The General stood about six-foot one, with broad shoulders and a commanding presence to this face. His was clean cut, with his hair slicked back to reveal his deep blue eyes that demanded attention.Looking down at a piece of paper, he addressed the Captain. "I'm afraid I have some bad news. We received a report about a week ago from Admiral DuGalle about the progress on the war. To put it simply, even with the capture of the Overmind, another creature calling herself the Queen of Blades still controls much of the swarm. DuGalle tried several times to 'remove' her from power, but all ended unsuccessfully. Because of this looming threat, Admiral DuGalle saw fit to ally himself with the Terran Dominion and the Protoss fleets in order to eradicate the Zerg. He concluded the message by saying that he would contact us shortly after the assault on the primary Zerg base on the space platform orbiting Char."General Legiri set the paper down, and gave a large sigh as he sat himself down into the nearest chair. "We have not heard back from DuGalle or his fleet for over a week now. Every transmission we send to him and his fleet is met with static. We have no idea what happened or what status his fleet is in."Captain Ellior slightly raised his hand. "Pardon me, General, but why are you telling me this? I'm just the flight leader of a fighter squadron. Where do I come into play in all of this?"The General folded his hands and looked at Captain Ellior with determined eyes. "We need to gather as much information as to the status of DuGalle's fleet as possible. We do not have the resources to launch another full expeditionary task force, so we are sending your squadron to escort one of our battlecruisers, callsigned the Nemesis II, to the Terran Sector to investigate. We are trying to keep a low profile on this one, so your squadron should not run into too many problems."The Captain looked at the General in shock. "You want my boys to escort one battlecruiser into a warzone? Frankly, General, we do not stand a chance with that small of a force."Legiri waved his hand in protest. "You will not be on your own for very long. Once you arrive in-system, all you need to do is use your short-wave transmitters to locate and contact Admiral DuGalle's fleet, then report back to us with the information.""And how do you know that DuGalle's fleet hasn't been wiped out, God forbid?""Admiral DuGalle is a very wise man and would never fail us. We are confident that his fleet is still out there and have somehow been unable to communicate with us for reasons which are, as of yet, unknown."Rising to his feet, he motion with his hand to the third man in the room. "This is Admiral Cyric, the commanding officer of the Nemesis II."The Captain talked first. "It will be an honor to escort your battlecruiser. Rest assured that my squadron is one of the best and will never let any harm come to your ship."Admiral Cyric smiled and nodded his head. "I am glad to have you with us. Your reputation as a revered fighter pilot proceeds you. I am sorry that you are not over in the Terran Sector helping to turn the tide of the war in our favor."Ellior nodded his head in agreement. "Well, it looks like the both of us are now going to get that chance.""Sorry to interrupt, gentlemen," stated the General, "but we need to finish some final preparations for this mission. You will leave tomorrow at 0500. Prepare your men. They will receive a full briefing enroute to the Terran Sector."He ended the meeting with a final statement. "We are counting on you, gentlemen. The war could depend on this mission, as does the safety of Earth and even humanity. For if we do not find out whether or not Admiral DuGalle's fleet is still out there, then we could be wide open for an invasion from these aliens forces upon even Earth itself." 


	2. Chapter II: The Nemesis II

I was able to get Chapter II out fairly quickly. Hope you enjoy. I'd love some feedback with these stories!

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**Chapter II: The Nemesis II**

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As Captain Ellior fastened the last button on his uniform, he looked in front of the mirror before him. Finally. Finally he can prove himself in battle. He had always wanted to head off to the Terran Sector to fight the war and now was his chance. He expected himself to be excited about the upcoming mission, but something loomed in the back of his mind. James couldn't quite put his finger on it, but an uneasy feeling choked away what excitement he did feel.

No, he couldn't let fear overcome this. This was what he always dreamed of doing. Here was his moment, his dream come alive. He must concentrate on the mission, not of feelings that stirred inside of him.

Stepping away from the mirror inside his small apartment, he took one last glance around at the familiar surroundings, Ellior had always been a fairly clean person, and the last remnants of clothing had been hung up or placed inside the suitcase that now lay open across his bed.

Walking over to the suitcase, he gave it a hard shove and released the pressure as the lid clicked shut. Grabbing it in his left hand, he strode out of the apartment with his pride and dignity held high. None of his neighbors knew where he was going or what he was doing, yet still he felt proud to be finally able to make a difference even without the publicity of his actions.

Within ten minutes he had arrived via public transport to the UED HQ. Entering the level that would take him up to the hangar, the lift rapidly began its ascent.

As the doors to the life opened, a young assistant took the suitcase and walked briskly to the APOD-33 dropship that sat inside the hangar. Captain Ellior strode towards the shuttle slowly. James made his way up the ramp that led into the APOD-33 shuttle and as the doors hissed shut behind him, he whispered a silent goodbye to the world around him and prepared to enter a whole new world.

Ellior glanced out the window of the shuttle as the Nemesis II came into view. Battlecruisers had always fascinated James Ellior with their size. The titanic ships held thousands of crew personnel and even a full garrison of marines within its holds. The hangars were capable of holding three squadrons of Wraith fighters, yet only one was to escort this particular battlecruiser.

_They could have equipped us with at least _one_ more squadron of fighters_, James thought to himself. _But you can never get what you want from the UED, unless it somehow lowers expenses on their part._ __  
  
The huge Behemoth-class battlecruisers were littered with laser turrets and had countless armor plates of hard neosteel protecting the hull that could withstand multiple hits from gunfire and missiles alike. A unique feature found only on the Behemoth-class battlecruisers was the Yamato cannon. This new device attached onto the nose of the ship and fired a small, concentrated nuclear blast in a laser shot that did devastating amounts of damage on the target it hits, without doing any damage to the surrounding area, unlike conventional nuclear warheads. The downside to the cannon was the tremendous use of energy required to fire it, which drastically reduced the rate of fire down to nearly three to five minutes per shot. Yet with a large fleet of these cruisers, a colony or military base could be destroyed within a matter of minutes.

After a few minutes the shuttle docked with the slow-moving battlecruiser that orbited the planet. Admiral Cyric, who was escorted by four armed marine guards, greeted Captain James Ellior as he exited the shuttle.

"Welcome aboard the Nemesis II," stated the Admiral, "It is an honor to have you and your squadron with us."

"I thank you for your kind welcome. The rest of my squadron will arrive in a few minutes."

Admiral Cyric nodded his head. "Very good. Your fighters have been transported to the ship already and are prepared for whenever you might need them."

"If all goes as planned, then that will not be the case." James replied.

Cyric nodded and gestured with his hand into the depths of the vessel. "Allow me to give you a small tour of our little ship."

"I would be delighted," said the Captain with a smile.

Ellior had been inside plenty of battlecruisers in the past, so he expected to see the usual. The corridors were fairly tight, just enough for two men to pass each other, unless they were suited up inside their standard issue combat armor. Should such a need arise, various arrows pointed in different directions through the corridors signifying what direction the hallway was meant to be used for, as to avoid confusion in a state of battle.

As they winded through the various hallways they finally came to a halt at a large door. Cyric entered some numbers into a keypad to the left of the door, which beeped in response to the Admiral's input. The door parted and revealed another vast hangar that seemed almost empty except for the Captain's squadron of fighters and a few technicians milling around tinkering with the ships.

The fighters looked like an upright T with the cockpit located in the crossing point of the T. The ships were armed with three burst laser cannons, one on each tip, and a full load of Gemini air-to-air missiles. A few of the fighter squadrons, including James' own 21st Reserve Squadron, had been recently upgraded with the fairly new cloaking device. This device, using a standard, compact, nuclear generator, had the capability of rendering a ship completely invisible to the human eye and even sophisticated radar. The lasting time was only about ten minutes, but was enough to get the job done undetected.

Admiral Cyric cut the silence. "Captain Ellior, this is Hangar B. This is where your fighters will be stationed at all times. You and your squadron will be given clearance codes to enter this hangar as soon as the rest of your men arrive onboard. Only your squadron and the technicians assigned to your fighters, along with me, are given access to this hangar. Understood?"

"Yes sir, perfectly." James replied back.

After the Admiral showed Captain Ellior the rest of the ship, including the command bridge, mess hall, and various other small parts that made up the ship, he escorted James Ellior to the room that he was going to be staying in.

The room was rather small, yet included what looked to be a comfortable bed, a small table in the corner, and a few pictures of various places on Earth. The washroom was located at the far corner and included the basic necessities.

The Admiral looked at Ellior. "This is where you'll be staying. If you need anything, there is a phone on the table there where you can call my assistant, Lieutenant Emmit. She will get you anything that you require."

"Thank you." was James' reply.

"We will head out towards the Terran Sector in a few hours. You may call a meeting at any time with your squadron mates and fill them in to what our mission is. There are a few training simulators for your boys if they need to brush up on their skills before we enter the Terran Sector. At top warp speed, we will arrive there in about a month. I'll inform you when we are near. Good day to you, Captain." With that the Admiral exited Ellior's room, shutting the door behind him.

The Captain, out of curiosity, decided to pick up the phone and immediately was greeted by a female voice. "Hello, Captain Ellior. What may I do for you?"

"Uh, yes, hi. Do they serve good coffee at the cafeteria?" "Let's just say that the coffee won't kill you, sir." She replied with a light chuckle in her voice.

"Well, right now my craving for a cup of coffee is strong enough that I think I will manage it."

"Very well, sir. Oh, and by the way, sir, the rest of your squadron crew has arrived onboard one of the shuttles. Just thought you might like to know, sir."

"Ok, thanks for the info, Ms. Emmit."

"You can call me Maria, sir. I've never cared for the formalities."

"Then in that case, you can call me James."

"Ok, James. I hope to see you around some time."

"I'll be looking forward to it." James then hung up the phone and headed towards the cafeteria.

The cafeteria was fairly empty when Ellior entered in, with a couple hours to go before lunch was served for the crewman of the Nemesis II. Captain Ellior walked up to the counter and asked the server for a mug of coffee, straight black. James grabbed the mug when it was brought to him then sat down in one of the chairs that surrounded many small rectangular tables placed about in the room. The coffee looked hot enough to melt his skin and indeed it felt like it when he brought it to his mouth to take a sip. The almost boiling, watered-on down coffee made Ellior believe that the UED would do almost _anything_ to cut down costs if they couldn't even have it so you could get a decent cup of coffee.

A man then walked into the cafeteria wearing a formal marine suit, his markings on his shoulder signifying his rank of Lieutenant. The man was short, with slightly broad shoulders, and looked to be in the late twenties. He had blonde, cropped hair with a small goatee on his chin. His blue eyes were fixed on the server at the counter as he walked over to order something. Captain Ellior immediately recognized his wingman and long-time best friend. He waved in the direction of the Lieutenant, who responded with a nod, picked up his own mug of coffee, then went to join the now standing Captain.

"Lieutenant Greg Hammel," James acknowledged with a shake of Hammel's hand, "It is good to see you made it up here fairly quickly."

"Well, it would've been much quicker if the stupid shuttle pilot hadn't accidentally deleted the clearance codes off his memory computer that was needed to grant access to the battlecruiser. After finally being able to land, every person aboard the shuttle had to be checked because of 'security measures'," the Lieutenant said with a shake of his head. "And quit the formalities, James. We've only known each other for what, fifteen years?"

"Yeah, yeah, don't remind me," replied the Captain with a sarcastic grin on his face.

Looking down at his coffee, Greg asked, "So how's the coffee here?"

Ellior gave a small chuckle. "Let's just say if I happened to spill the coffee, it would melt through this table."

"That bad, huh?"

"So how's your family doing?" James Ellior asked curiously as they both took their seats at the table.

"Eleanor is doing just fine. Our son just turned one month old. I just wish I could be there with him, watch him grow up."

James looked at Greg. "Hey, you know this is the right thing to do. You're protecting his future. I think he will understand that when he's older."

Greg nodded in agreement as he took a sip of his coffee. "I know. I try to remind myself that what I'm doing here, leaving my family behind to go fight a war against two seemingly unstoppable enemies, is to try and protect my son's right to live, his rights as a human being. What we do now can save humanity for eons to come."

Ellior replied with a slap on Hammel's shoulder. "Now that's the kind of talking I like to here. See how much better things look when you're more optimistic?"

"I just hope it's not all in vain." "Ah, man!" Ellior replied as he slapped his forehead in frustration. "You just blew it!"

"Yeah, well, you're overwhelming optimism needs to be balanced out every now and then with my pessimism," Greg replied with a small, sarcastic grin.  
James laughed in response and then they continued to talk about various things at home that they were now leaving behind because of the mission that loomed ahead of them.


	3. Chapter III: Preparation for Battle

Here's chapter 3. I'd love some feedback on these stories, good or bad, so please R&R!

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**Chapter III: Preparation for Battle**

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The blackness surrounded and engulfed the cockpit of his small Wraith fighter, with the stars the only source of comfort in the vastness of the unforgiving space. The controls of the ship lay in his hands. With every move he made the ship responded as if he was apart of the ship itself. He felt like this is where he belonged: inside of his fighter in the immensity of space. Here he felt the most alive, the most invigorated, and the most in control of his life.

The other eleven fighters swirled about him, eager to engage in battle. The sleek craft were armed to the teeth with their laser cannons fully charged, which were backed by a full load of the deadly Gemini air-to-air missiles. The imposing Behemoth battlecruiser, the Nemesis II, loomed behind them; it's very presence and the laser turrets that bristled the hull were a menacing sight to any unfortunate foe caught in its path."Ok, everyone form into your flight groups and stay with me. Keep a sharp eye out for any Zerg forces that you might see. Just keep in formation, don't freeze up, and we should have no problem dealing with any Zerg we encounter," Captain Ellior said with a confident voice.The twelve-ship fighter squadron broke into three flight groups with four ships to each group. Each flight formed the shape of a diamond while the entire squadron resembled a large triangle.The familiar voice of Lt. Hammel crackled over the radio. "It seems pretty quite out here, Cap.""Too quiet," Captain Ellior replied, "Let's just keep this formation and form a defensive posture on the battlecruiser while it does a communications check and a deep-space scan for any signs of DuGalle's fleet. It should only take about ten minutes, so just sit tight. As soon as they're done, everyone quickly dock with the ship so we can jump to the next system and do the same procedure. We need to find that fleet, and this is the easiest way to do it without attracting too much attention to ourselves."James Ellior closed his eyes for a brief moment and let the calm feeling of being in his fighter again wash over him. Opening his eyes a few moments later, he concentrated on keeping a tight formation around the battlecruiser, while looking intently over the radar screen before him as he scanned for any signs of enemy forces.Suddenly, one of the pilots replied over the radio with an excited but controlled tone in his voice. "Enemy presence spotted on my deep space scanner at coordinates X-12,Y-32, 43 degrees. ETA, one minute!"Ellior glanced down at his screen and typed in the coordinates. "Looks like about thirty-five to forty mutalisks broken into three groups. Let's drop in low with cloaking on and surprise 'em. Watch out for any signs of those Overlords. If you see any, they become our primary targets. Don't let the mutalisks get within range of the battlecruiser. We'll strike right into the heart of their formation. Use your missiles on the first run."Ellior recalled back to the training simulators he had and all the textbooks he read on the Zerg creatures. The mutalisks were the Zerg's basic form of aerial defense and offense. These dragon-like creatures spit out small symbiotes called the Glave Wurm, coupled with a spray of acid following suit. These small Wurms, when fired at another vessel, would rapidly eat there way through the ship, ground vehicle, or personnel, creating havoc within as it demolished the interior of whatever it found itself attached to. A fighter could find itself destroyed within a matter of seconds because of this small creature. The Glave Wurm was also known to launch itself from one vessel, after destroying it, to another if the proximity of the second vessel was close enough. The life span of this vile creature was only a few seconds, which was just enough time to finish off the machine or personnel it was shot upon."We're nearing the targets, Captain Ellior," Lt. Hammel reported over the radio. "ETA, thirty seconds."James Ellior took a final breath to relax himself, then stated over the radio, "Ok, everyone, let's do this. Cloaking shields on."Suddenly each ship began to glow an eerie white, with small energy webbings stabbing and jutting in and out, creating what looked like a massive electrical short. The sparks of energy then began to disappear, and the whiteness began to start slowly swirling around each ship, fading them until they seemed to no longer exist. When the ships had disappeared, the whiteness surrounding the wraiths faded with the. However, if someone looked closely enough when the ships continued in movement, small ripples though the fabric of space could be seen that was made from the sleek fighter crafts, which was the only sign of their existence."Break high everyone, then when we're on top of them, turn your noses down and drive straight into them with full missiles," said James.The twelve-flight group of wraiths split into their respective four-ship flights, then rapidly ascended to get above the mutalisks. Then, in perfect tandem, the wraiths plummeted downward onto the unsuspected enemy creatures.Captain Ellior switched a few dials on his ship, then grasped the joystick firmly in his grip, flipping the switch on the top of the stick as he readied his missiles to fire."Missiles armed and ready, Captain," Greg announced over the private intercom."Roger that, Greg. You stay with me and pick off whatever I leave behind.""I'm right behind you."Ellior then switched to the channel for the entire flight."Everyone find a separate target. Fire on my mark."_Now to find a target_, Ellior thought. Picking the mutalisk that was out in front, Ellior put his sights onto the creature and the familiar tone signaling a lock-on sounded in the cockpit."I've got a good lock. 21st Squadron, fire on my mark. One... two... three. Mark! Missiles away!"In perfect sequence, two missiles from each ship burst forth, the fiery entrails of the launch closely behind them. Twenty-four missiles streaked in towards their targets, eager to explode upon impact. The sudden launch of missiles from seemingly nowhere startled the mutalisks. They began to scatter, trying to get away from the onslaught, but it was too late.Missile after missile hit its target, exploding the creatures in a disgusting mesh of red and green slime. A few of the mutalisks in the first wave were able to evade the deadly Gemini missiles and spewed their Glave Wurms at the weapons to destroy them.Ellior counted roughly nine mutalisks down that signified around three of them evaded the missiles. Yet there were still two more waves behind the first, so his job was far from over. Yanking the stick hard to the right, he followed a mutalisk that was evading blindly in the air, looking for anything to shoot at. Getting another lock-on, Ellior launched another two missiles towards his foe. Both missiles connected, making the creature explode in a red mist. Pulling back on his stick, he followed his radar to the next target."You still with me, Greg?" James asked."Does a bird have wings?" Greg replied sarcastically. "I'm right on your tail, Cap. Although you ain't leavin' me much to shoot at."James smiled at the comment. "I'll take that as a compliment."Switching to lasers, the Captain chose another target and closed the distance between them. Coming up on the aft of the creature, Ellior let loose a flurry of red energy bolts that shot out from his cloaked vessel. Many of the bolts hit, ripping the mutalisk to shreds.Ellior glanced down to see how much energy he had left for his cloaking shield. _80 left. I have plenty of time to rid this space of these creatures_, Ellior thought to himself."How's everyone doing on energy for their shields?" Ellior asked. Each flight reported back with no problems, so Ellior went back to finding new targets.The first wave of mutalisks had already been completely destroyed and the second wave was being finished off. The third wave was just about in range. Yet not one casualty occurred to his squadron of wraiths and the battlecruiser hadn't even gotten into range of the mutalisks yet. _This is going easier than I thought. Perhaps these Zerg creatures aren't so tough after all.___   
  
As if to answer him, two overlords showed up on his scanner, closing in fast and already in close range_. Dangit, they must've been hiding behind the third wave of mutalisks. We need to take those out quickly, or this entire squadron is exposed.___   
  
The large, brain-like creatures that looked like giant jellyfish, their long tentacles dangling beneath them, had the capability of disabling the cloaking technologies on any ship or personnel, rendering them completely vulnerable and exposed. If the overlords got within range, they would expose Captain Ellior's entire squadron. However, the one downside to the creatures is that they had no offensive weaponry, so if they were not guarded closely, they were completely vulnerable to attack."Alright 21st Squad, listen up. I have two overlords approaching fast right behind the third wave. We need to take those out, and take them out quickly. Red flight and Blue flight will each target an overlord. Use as many missiles as it will take to bring those guys down. Gold flight will try to distract the third wave of mutalisks so Red and Blue flight will have a clear shot to the Overlords. Ok, let's do it!"Yanking the stick hard to the right, he began a flight path that would take him directly on an intercept course with the overlords and mutalisks. The rest of Gold flight began to form up on the Captain's craft as they headed towards the sinister creatures. Blue flight approached from the right side, while Red flight approached from the left to attack the overlords from behind."Gold flight," James Ellior announced over the intercom, "disable your cloaking fields to save energy. The overlords will disable their capabilities anyways."The ships simultaneously emerged from the blackness, the same shimmering energy sparkling and crackling as it danced over the ships, bringing them into view. The ships slowly simmered into existence, their presence ominous and threatening.Acting as a fine-tuned machine, the ships dove into the fray, firing both missiles and lasers at their foes. The mutalisks, now with a target they could see, returned fire with their own deadly Glave Wurms, striking one of the valiant Terran defenders down.Ellior successfully destroyed one of the mutalisks on the approach with the last of his missiles, noticing his squadron mates had also taken a couple kills. Pulling back on the stick while rotating the ship at a 45-degree angle, James decreased the throttle to quickly bring his ship across the approaching path of one of the flying creatures. Slamming the throttle back to full, James switched to his burst lasers to target the mutalisk. Coming in on his aft, he centered the crosshairs on the beast and let loose a fury of laser fire. The target was decimated by the overwhelming barrage, becoming nothing more than a large mass of meat floating in space.James pulled slightly up to avoid the carcass as he glanced on his radar to search for another target. Red flight crackled over the radio with success of destroyed one of the overlords and were now enroute to help Blue flight engage the last overlord.Ellior talked into the built-in microphone in his helmet. "Gold flight, get ready to reactivate those cloaking shields the moment that last overlord is destroyed.""I got one on my tail! I need help fast!" was the sudden shout of Lieutenant Greg Hammel over the radio.Rapidly scanning his radar, James located the ship and the mutalisk that trailed it. "I'm on my way, Greg," was Ellior's reply.Turning the wraith around, he rapidly closed the distance between his ship and the two other flying craft engaged in a deadly game of tag. Realizing he had no missiles left, Captain Ellior had to get close enough to take the mutalisk out with lasers.Almost within firing range, Ellior said over the intercom, "Greg, break left on my mark."Ellior waited a few seconds."Mark!"The sleek craft of Greg Hammel's made a quick and efficient turn to the left, with the mutalisk closely on it's tail. The mutalisk made a fatal mistake in doing so. The turn put the creature right into the path of Ellior's crosshairs, and the pilot did not waste the moment. Holding the trigger down, the flying creature smashed into the wall of laser fire, obliterated by the onslaught."You're all clear, Lieutenant."A quick jolt in his craft made him suddenly lurch forward, losing control of the stick and making the ship start to spin out of control. Hastily regaining control of the fighter as James grabbed the flightstick, he glanced at his radar screen and muttered a curse under his breath.Two mutalisks had gotten behind him and he had been so preoccupied with Greg's ship and the mutalisk, he hadn't noticed them until now. Suddenly, a red light flashed above his console and he immediately typed a few keys on the console to bring up an assessment of the damage. Ellior gasped in unbelief. A Glave Wurm had caused the lurch on the ship and had begun to eat its way through the entire ship. One after another, the console reported every system begin to change from its standard green light to flashing its deadly red. The grim truth finally hit Ellior when he realized he didn't have long to live. 


	4. Chapter IV: An Ever Present Enemy

**Chapter IV: An Ever-Present Enemy**

As Private Rensha Souryo slowly opened his eyes to the ear-piercing noise of a high-pitched tone, it suddenly dawned on him that the alarm was sounding. Hastily jumping out of his bed, Rensha forced his eyes to quickly get used to the blinding yellow light that flooded the room along with the continuous flashing of red that signified something was wrong. Very wrong. Bodies scrambled around as men everywhere were awakening to the alarms themselves and rushed out of the barracks to investigate.

Grabbing the nearest private by the arm, Rensha tried to shout over the loud noises that filled the room and the adjacent corridor. "What the hell is going on around here?""I'm not sure. All I know is that I'm heading to the armory to grab my gear. My guess is that the Zerg are probably headin' this way." With that, the private ran out of the room and into the hallway that lead to the exit of the barracks.As if to answer him, an automated female voice suddenly spoke over the intercom. "All marines report to your stations. This is not a drill. I repeat, all marines report to your designated stations. Code Red. I repeat, Code Red."_Damn, the Zerg are coming_, Rensha muttered under his breath. Quickly strapping on his army boots, he headed down the tight hallway and into the darkness of night as he exited the barracks that housed the tired men of the small, Terran Dominion-controlled outpost of Sector 23, which was stationed on the backwater planet of Keyant. Why Emperor Mengsk had wanted to have a base way out in the outer sectors was beyond anyone at the outpost. Yet the officers obeyed their Emperor and the facilities had quickly been erected and the base was operational within days.Even though the darkness prohibited most of his sight, Souryo instinctively darted towards the armory station that was located only a couple dozen yards away from the barracks. The armory station was where all the weapons, armor, and ammunition were stored. There the marines, firebats, and specialist ghosts could outfit themselves with their proper attire.As Rensha hurried along, marines all around him were rushing to their posts to begin their defensive setup. There were a few officers who were still in their nightclothes as they barked orders to their subordinates.Large, round bunkers dotted the perimeter of the outpost, their field of vision giving them a complete 360-degree field of fire, while keeping the men inside safe from enemy fire. To back up the bunkers, large air-to-air missile turrets stood guard against any potential air-threats. These lethal weapons have two large missile pods mounted on a solid neosteel pillar that could swivel the turret in any direction.Soon the private had gotten to the armory and headed inside, only to be greeted with an even more hectic place. Military personnel were bustling around suiting up in their own armor and grabbing their weapons. Running to his station, Rensha quickly located his own combat suit, the battle-worn, gray, neosteel armor hanging on a rack with dozens more similar to it lining the wall.Countless drills were spent in these bulky armor suits. The gorilla-shaped neosteel armor was difficult to learn in, yet Souryo soon enough got the handle of it and was now able to run about with ease. Suiting up in less than three minutes, Rensha quickly checked the diagnostics of his suit through the image projected on his visor, with all systems showing the green light. He then headed over to the weapons cache and grabbed one of the standard issue C-14 "Impaler" Gauss Rifles. Checking the ammo load of his weapon he looked around at his surroundings.Firebats at a different station were outfitting themselves with their own CMC-660 Heavy Combat Suits, similar to the CMC-300 models that the marines wore, with the 660 suits being more durable, yet with less versatility. These suits also allowed the firebats to outfit themselves with the Plasma-based Perdition Flame Throwers, which were mounted under each arm of the firebat.After grabbing his weapon, Rensha hesitated slightly when he saw a few of the marines grabbing small needles and inserting them into a small compartment underneath their right arm. These needles, called stim-packs, hold inside of them a powerful mixture of synthetic adrenaline and endorphins couple with a powerful psychotropic aggression amplifier. When the pack is administered, it provides the user with greatly enhanced speed and reflexes for a short time. Rensha decided, as usual, to bypass that particular station, because there were numerous cases where the recipient, after taking the shots, had later side-effects such as insomnia, weight loss, tremors, grand mal seizures, mania/hypomania, paranoiac hallucinations, severe internal hemorrhaging, and cerebral deterioration. Why the government would allow the use of such drugs was beyond Rensha. He preferred to not use the packs, for he relied on his own strength and not something artificial and, not to mention, damaging from a drug.Heading to the doorway that lead back outside, Rensha passed by a station in the corner that was much smaller than the other stations, yet it always gave chills to him when he saw it. It was there where the ghosts outfitted themselves. These agents are psionically-enhanced humans, the epitome of the human race. Born with special telepathic abilities, they are continuously drafted into the military, once their abilities become known. Going through the toughest training in the entire Marine Corp., only very few pass the training, or worse, go insane from the constant bombardment of unending toil. Because of their tremendous power, Psychic Dampeners are surgically implanted into the agents to keep them under control of their leaders.Souryo soon found himself back outside the complex and into the misty night. Looking for a commanding officer, he spotted a very nervous looking Captain near the barracks. He headed towards the man to find out what exactly was going on, and where Rensha's unit should report. When he reached the Captain, he snapped off a quick salute, which the officer did not reply."Reporting for duty, sir!" Rensha shouted over the noise, yet could hardly even hear his own voice himself. "Where do you want me to deploy, sir?"The Captain seemed oblivious to Rensha's question, staring past the private to where the sounds of battle began to rise. "My god, there must be thousands of them! They are coming from all directions! We cannot hold off an assault of this size! I tried contacting Emperor Mengsk to send reinforcements, but ever since he made that damn coalition with the UED and the Protoss and made that final assault on the Zerg stronghold, I haven't been able to reach him at all. The damn communications must be down again."Private Souryo tried one more time with his question. "Captain, where do you want me stationed?"The Captain suddenly fell out of his small trance and focused in on the private standing before him. "What unit are you with, private?""Squad 6A of Delta Platoon, sir!" Rensha shouted out."I believe your unit was posted to cover the eastern side of the base near the command center. Hurry and get to your post. And just pray I can reach the Emperor before it is too late.""Yes sir!" was Private Souryo's reply.Quickly heading towards his station hoping to get there before the bulk of the Zerg forces arrived, he happened to glance up into the night sky. Up in the blackness of night, the dotted glistening lights of the stars began to rapidly dissipate with the appearance of numerous caliginous objects directly overhead. They had already arrived.The familiar high-pitched shrieks in the air behind Rensha lured him to look back and notice the familiar A-17/B Wraith fighters fill the night sky with their presence as they raced off towards the ever-growing hornets nest in the air. A few shots began to pierce the night as marines opened up with their Gauss rifles, with the repetitive boom of the arclite siege tanks growing steadier as they began to hail fire into the mist ahead. It at first looked as if the marines were shooting at nothing, but as Rensha glanced closer he could now see various dark shadows luring in the mist ahead advancing at a rapid pace.Realizing the fact that he was standing in the open, Rensha Souryo immediately searched for his unit, locating them in the trench ahead of him. Hastily reaching the safety of the barbed wire lined ditch, Rensha jumped down into the gap, the muddy water splashing as his armored boots hit the soft earth."It's about time you showed up, man!" shouted one of the marines next to him."Yeah, we thought you skipped or somethin' when you heard the Zerg were comin'!" shouted another."What, and let you guys have all the fun?" laughed Rensha."Hell, boys, if you shot as much as you talked, we'd have annihilated every last zergling in this solar system!" shouted their Sergeant who was in the trench a few men down from Rensha. "Now shut the hell up and start fighting!"Unable to pick any clear target because of the thick mist that concealed their enemy, Rensha made a few short bursts into the fog, hearing a couple deafening shrieks as a few of the creatures were pierced with the deadly 8mm spikes of his Impaler. Darkness itself seemed to move as the growing tidal wave of Zerg creatures began to become ever more visible as they approached the nervous forces stationed at the outpost of Sector 23."Come on, I got me some Zerg to fry!" shouted the marine next to Rensha."My god, look at them all! We'll never be able to take on this many Zerg!" said another farther down the line."Ah, shut up, Johnson. You fresh fish are always so paranoid."Before long, definite figures could now be picked out, which brought forth the full fury of the marines' Gauss Impaler rifles. As wave after wave of the small, dog-like zergling were cut to shreds and numerous of the large cobra-like hyrdalisks were blown away, the Terran forces began to cheer in victory from the slaughter they were handing out. Artillery fire from nearby arclite tanks decimated the swarms of zerg, blowing huge chunks in their ranks, with the marines annihilating whatever remained.Suddenly a few zerglings burst through the barrage of spikes, landing in the trenches and began to savagely attack the brave human defenders, using their deadly tusks located on their head and the large claws on their feed to slash at the armor of the marines, trying desperately to break through the hard shell of neosteel. Fortunately, a nearby firebat fried the creatures, along with the battered corpses of the few marines to a crisp before the zerglings could do anymore damage.At first it seemed to Rensha that they were winning the battle, as the zerg swarm seemed to be unable to gain any ground, but that opinion quickly changed when a very large creature appeared over a supply building to the right of the marines located inside the trench. Rensha immediately recognized the large flying crab as a Guardian, and knew that the vile acid it spewed forth from its mouth decimated ground targets with deadly accuracy.The marines, suddenly realizing the danger that they were in, turned their weapons to bear on the large creature flying above them. A few of the men even began to scream with rage as they administered their stim packs. But it was too late. Amidst the heavy wave of 8mm spikes, the hard-shelled Guardian spewed forth its toxic green liquid onto the unfortunate marines. The Terrans screamed in agony as the acid ate is way through, bringing the men to a slow, painful death. Rensha instantly jumped and rolled away from the trench, avoiding the deadly toxins.Three wraiths suddenly strafed in low, and let loose a flurry of laser fire at the Guardian, shredding its carapace to pieces. Yet the damage had already been done to the forward lines. With Rensha's unit nearly decimated from the guardian's attack, the lines began to fail, with numerous areas beginning to swarm with zerg as they overtook the trenches.Spotting one of the large, round bunkers to his right about twenty-five yards away, he immediately headed towards the safety of the large neosteel structure. Upon reaching it, he cursed and slammed his fist upon the small console at the doorway as he realized the marines inside had locked it. Pounding on the door and shouting with all his might, Rensha tried to get the attention of the men within. Yet with the noise of battle deafening the men and the thick neosteel plating blocking most of Rensha's shouts, the marines had no idea of Rensha's plea for entrance.After finally realizing the uselessness of his banging, he searched for an alternate spot for cover. Scanning his surroundings, Rensha glanced up into the night sky, noticing that the wraiths were being overwhelmed by the continuous onslaught of the Zerg mutalisks and devourers. It suddenly dawned on Souryo that the D-71/M Missile Turrets were lying dormant on the battlefield, their missile tucked away within their pods.These older model air defense turrets were the only things Emperor Mengsk could spare for the outlying base on Keyant. The D-71/M, apart from the newer, automated D-71/MA, had to be manually turned on from inside the Command Center, which was stationed at the eastern section of the outpost. Why they had not been brought to bear upon the Zerg air forces baffled the young private. If the base was to have any chance of surviving this assault, the missile turrets had to be activated.Spotting the Command Center only about a hundred yards away, he began to dash towards the large, cylindrical object emerging from the ghostly fog. The Command Center was the basic control center of every standard base. Equipped with a miniaturized factory able to produce the versatile SCVs for the gathering of precious minerals and vespene gas, the Command Center was also equipped with various radar equipment and scanner devices to monitor the base and its surroundings, along with four massive jet propulsion systems capable of relocating the Command Center to another spot if needed. Also inside this particular Center was the command console for activating the much need D-71/Ms.As Rensha hastily made his way towards the slowly growing figure of the Center, a pack of deadly Goliath-class Walkers with their twin 30mm Autocannons and Hellfire Anti-air Missiles lumbered their way across the battlefield, shredding countless zerglings and hydralisks to shreds. A lone Ultralisk, the mammoth-sized creature with two bone-like scythes, began to slice its way through the group of Goliaths, toppling two of them with ease. With the help of two Arclite Siege Tanks, the remaining Goliaths put the Ultralisk out of commission.

A small collection of Vulture Hover-cycles raced their way towards the Zerg army, nearly clipping Rensha along the way, and began blasting away zerglings after zerglings with their Anti-Personnel Fragmentation Grenades. Their fast speed kept them from being harmed by the Zerg, yet when a large force of hydralisks intercepted the swift vehicles, their deadly needle spines made short work of the hover bikes. The large Arclite Siege Tanks seemed to be the only things that were able to hold the unstoppable Zerg forces at bay, with their 80mm cannons for short-range defense and the large 150mm Shock Cannon used while in siege mode decimating wave after wave of Zerg.

By now Private Souryo had covered nearly half the distance to the control center, only to run into more trouble. A pair of zerglings had broken through the carnage and had spotted the fleeing private. Noticing the two beasts bearing down on him, Rensha quickly turned himself around, bringing his lethal Gauss rifle to bear upon the unfortunate zerglings. Unleashing a deadly wave of spikes, the creatures were soon torn to shreds and lay on the ground before the victorious private.But unbeknown to Rensha, another zergling appeared from behind a small group of metal containers and was racing towards the unsuspecting marine. Suddenly hearing a hideous shriek behind him, Rensha turned around and was greeted by a large smash to the chest as he was knocked to the ground, losing his grip on the rifle as it skidded away on the mud-slicked earth. The zergling was on top of him, making it high-pitched screech as it began to viciously claw at Rensha's armor. Souryo tried to heave the critter off of himself, but the zergling was too heavy and too determined. Fear began to overcome Rensha as he frantically tried to free himself from the zergling's deadly hold as it continued to hack away at the badly damaged combat suit. Finally coming to his senses, Rensha reached down to his side and pulled forth the compact needlegun that every marine carried as a sidearm. Thrusting it up to the zergling's abdomen, he pulled the trigger three times, blowing apart the body of the zergling as it howled in pain from the sudden attack.Rolling the dead body off of himself, Souryo struggled to stand upright. Red and yellow lights flashed continuously inside his helmet, signifying the zergling had done a significant amount of damage to the suit. Breathing a sigh of relief as the servos in the legs and arms continued to work with ease, he continued on his run towards the very near Command Center.With the building only twenty-five yards away, Rensha started running even faster to reach his destination. It was then when three hydralisks appeared from behind a nearby building to Souryo's right and began to race towards him, their blood red eyes seeming to stare straight into Rensha's soul. Spraying a few spikes randomly in the direction of the hydralisks, Souryo continued to push forward to the safe haven of the Command Center. However the hydralisks were gaining rapidly on the terrified marine, even though Rensha was in a full sprint.Finally the private reached the large, neosteel door, after ascending the small platform that led up to the Command Center. Quickly punching in his level 1 security clearance code, Rensha took a quick glance back as the doorway began to open. The hydralisks were nearly upon him. Squeezing himself and his battlesuit through the halfway opened entrance, Rensha turned and hastily slammed his heavily armored fist down upon the button to close the door. As the hatch came to a close, large "pings" hit on the outside as the hydralisks' poisonous needle spines peppered the front of the entrance, which was followed by a few large thumps, scratches, and high-pitched shrieks as the hydralisks tried desperately to get inside.Private Rensha Souryo breathed a sigh of relief.He was safe.For the moment. 


	5. Chapter V: The Journey Begins

Hope you enjoy. I'd love some feedback for this series. :)

**Chapter V: The Journey Begins**

Captain James Ellior gave a large sigh as the screen of the simulator went black. James hit the button located on the panel in front of him to open the top of the cockpit and stepped out into the immense room that held a large number of the over-sized simulator compartments that looked similar to the A-17 Wraith cockpits. Ellior unstrapped his helmet and used both hands to remove the protective covering from his head. A few of the other pilots in his squadron who had been shot down were sitting at a bench against one of the walls and each held a look of shock on their faces as they saw the Captain step out of his simulator cockpit.

"Sir, you were shot down?" asked one of the pilots."I thought you were invincible," another stated with a sarcastic grin.Ellior shrugged his shoulders and stated with a smirk, "Yeah, well, I'll blame it on my lack of sleep lately. By the way, lunch is in ten minutes, which I will probably skip so I can catch a few winks while I can. When the rest of the squadron finishes, just let them know where I went. I'll do a debriefing on the simulator run after the lunch hour is over. You guys did well out there, by the way."The sarcastic pilot replied. "Oh yeah, that's why we're sittin' out here."The Captain and the other pilots laughed as James excused himself from the room.As James walked down the various passages that eventually led to his room, he came across a young man that was wearing a technician's suit and was trying to carry two large metal containers without much success."Here, let me help you with that," James volunteered."Thanks a bunch. These things are a pain," stated the technician as he handed one of the containers to Ellior."What's in 'em?""Oh, just spare parts for the A-17/Gs. I just need to get them to Hangar B.""Name's Captain James Ellior, by the way.""Aren't you the squadron leader of the fighters stationed on this hulk?""That's right. I'm the Captain of the 21st.""Pleasure to meet you," the technician stated, "John Smither's the name.""So are you one of the technicians tasked with upkeeping the fighters?" James asked."Yep. Unfortunately whoever was in charge of your fighters down on Earth did a good job in keeping those things in shape. So I haven't had that much work to do, which is probably why I'm being sent on these little errand runs.""Well, I also make it standard that each one of my pilots regularly checks up on his fighter to make sure everything is in order. So if you see any of my guys down there getting in your way, you'll know why."John chuckled, "Thanks for the tip."Soon they arrived to the hangar with only a couple mechanics inside making last minute checks before they went on their lunch break. Smithers pointed to a corner where the two men placed their containers."Thanks again for your help," said John."Anytime," Ellior replied as he turned to exit the hangar."Hey," the technician said to stop James from walking away. "It's lunch. Want to get a quick bite to eat?"The rumbling in James' stomach made him consider the offer. _Oh well, I can get some sleep at any time. It's not like we're going to be arriving at the Terran Sector anytime soon._"Sure," James finally said, "I'm a little hungry. You can meet the rest of my squadron."John smiled. "Sounds good," he said as he wiped his hands together to remove the dust that he collected from the containers. "You lead the way."

  
  
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The huge cafeteria was bustling with activity as men and women from different divisions consumed their meals that they received at numerous food stations. Because of the overwhelming number of staff and crew on a battlecruiser, the total number of crew are divided into three shifts, so that when one shift is working, another is taking a break, while another is having their lunch or dinner break.As James and John finally got through the huge line at one of the stations and received their food, it took the Captain a few minutes to locate the rest of his squadron at one of the rectangular tables near the center of the room. Pushing his way past numerous people, Ellior and Smithers arrived at the table.James turned to the squadron then to John, "Guys, I would like you to meet John Smithers. He's one of the technicians that will be upkeeping our ships."The squadron all said their hellos with the technician replying back, then he along with the Captain took their seats at the table."So, Captain, decided to get some lunch instead of sleep?" Greg Hammel asked."Yeah, my appetite got the better of me."James took a large spoonful of the mush that was in his bowl and gave a disgusted look as he placed it in his mouth."Man, this stuff is horrible. So much for my appetite. I'm missing the food back on Earth already."John laughed. "I've practically grown up on this stuff 'cause I've been on this battlecruiser for so long. You'll get used to it," he finished as he took a spoonful of the meal before him."What is it?" James asked as he winced while trying to swallow the bite.John swallowed his own mouthful. "Good question. I still have to figure that out."

  
  
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James walked briskly towards the command bridge, careful to not be late. Admiral Cyric had requested to speak with him and had only given him ten minutes to get ready. The Captain had only gotten a few hours sleep before the phone had rung and Maria's cheerful voice over the speaker had given him the news.

Approaching the large neosteel doors that led to the bridge, James gave one last yawn as he handed his I.D. to the two, armed guards at the entrance. They had no combat armor on, but still carried the oversized Impaler rifles in their hands. The guard to whom Ellior showed his I.D. to gave a small grunt and typed the code into the small keypad to the right of the door, as he handed the card back to the Captain. The doors parted and James entered inside, spotting Admiral Cyric located at his traditional position at the center of the bridge, staring intently at the monitors surrounding him.

The pilot approached the Admiral and gave a salute. "You wished to see me, sir?"Admiral Cyric slowly turned around to the Captain. "Captain Ellior, let's get down to business. You know the importance of this mission."It wasn't a question, but a statement, James noted. "Yes, sir, I do.""And you also realize it may be a suicide mission.""Sir?" Ellior asked curiously.The Admiral gave a large sigh as he glanced down at the floor momentarily. "Look, you and I both know that the likelihood of Admiral DuGalle still being alive, along with his fleet, is not very high. Just look at the facts. He was planning on a major counteroffensive against the Zerg, with two temporary allies that were previously enemies. Only after the assault was made on the Zerg did we lose our communications from him. Even if the Zerg didn't destroy him, how do we know that one of the other two didn't turn on him when the battle was over? Doesn't all of this seem like too much of a coincidence to you?"Ellior chose his words carefully. "Sir, while I am not questioning your opinions, they are still opinions, sir. Admiral DuGalle is one of the finest officers we have. He would not dare go on some outlandish last-chance mission that would most likely fail. He's courageous, but not stupid."Cyric nodded his head. "I agree, but things happen in war unexpectedly. Things happen that can turn the most perfect plan sour. I just feel like we are going to walk right into the hornet's nest that he stirred up."Ellior decided to not say anything at the moment.Cyric cut the silence. "Look, I just wanted to give you the heads up. Once we reach the Terran Sector, who knows what we'll find. I just want your squadron to be at it's best. Because if we're going to get out of this alive, it's going to count on your fighters to keep this battlecruiser safe, understood?""Yes, sir, perfectly." Ellior remarked.It was then when a young marine guard approached the two men in conversation, his eyes looking towards Admiral Cyric. "Admiral, we've got a situation. We have a man locked up on Cell 4 for tampering with the weapon room security lock.""Let me guess, it's Lt. Smith."The marine nodded his head.Cyric shook his head in disappointment. "I knew that boy was going to be trouble on this mission the second General Legiri transferred him to my battlecruiser."He turned to James. "Captain, would you like to accompany me?"

Ellior nodded his head. "Certainly, Admiral."

  
  
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"So who is this Lt. Smith?"The Admiral turned to James as they continued to make their way down to the holding cells. "Oh, he's a security technician. He is constantly getting into trouble. Tampering with a weapons security lock is nothing compared to some of the things he's done before."James gave a confused look. "Then why would he even still be in the military, or even alive for that matter, for making such mistakes?""Because he's the best. There's no mistaking that. He has set up practically unbreakable security walls and can hack into anything that you send him after. Unfortunately, he sometimes can misuse these skills of his. I can't wait to hear his reason for tampering with the weapons room."They had soon arrived at the cellblock, which was empty save for one cell. The two marine guards that were escorting both officers took their positions on either side of cell door #4, their weapons pointing through the bars of the jail and at the man inside.The man inside laughed when the Admiral approached. "Come now, Admiral, why the armed guards? Surely you don't think I would try to harm you.""No, but I don't take chances, Lt. Smith. Now what were you doing trying to hack into the weapons room?"The Lieutenant gave a large, whispered snort. "All I was going to do was get myself a needlegun for protection. There's no way I'm going into a warzone without some type of self-defense on me."The Admiral crossed his arms. "Well, it's going to be fairly difficult to defend yourself in there, now isn't it?""All the more reason to let me out," he said as a smile crept onto his face. "Look, you know you need me. You also know that I don't hurt nobody. I'm a hacker, not a criminal.""Hacking is a crime. That makes you a criminal. If this were back in the older days during the Purification Act, you would've been sentenced to death," Cyric remarked.The man in the cell gave a large snort of disgust. "Man, I don't care what you say, but hacking is an art-form. You can't compare something like that with the likes of pathetic criminals who can only fire a gun and can't think worth a lick. And if you say that hacking is a crime, then every single one of you UED boys need to be in here alongside with me. You're the ones who hired me because of my hacking abilities. So what are you saying? That's it's not a crime if I do it in the name of the UED?""You use your skills for personal gain.""And the UED doesn't?""The only reason we would use your skills is if UED world security was compromised. It is to protect the people. Including even people like you."The Lieutenant smirked. "Come now, you surely don't expect me to believe that, do you, Admiral? I know the details of some of the jobs your people have given me. Things that nobody would ever consider to be within the realm of 'world security'.""I think the UED High Command would be more suitable for making those kinds of judgments than you would," the Admiral retorted.Lt. Smith smiled. "Besides, what did you think I was gonna do with that weapon? Shoot someone?" He raised an eyebrow. "You, perhaps?""What you were going to do with that weapon is irrelevant at the moment. I don't consider you to be the kind of criminal who 'can only fire a gun and can't think worth a lick', as you so eloquently put it. You are constantly misusing your skills and breaking UED protocol. Those skills you possess do not belong to you. They belong to the UED Armed Forces." Cyric remarked as he uncrossed his arms and pointed towards the man in the cell. "You don't like it, then you and your skills can just sit there in that cell until you change your mind."Cyric then turned and began to walk away. Lt. Smith hesitated for a moment, then spoke up. "Ok, Admiral, you win. I'll obey your 'military protocol'."That man in the cell crossed his arms. "But don't think I'll like it."Cyric faced Smith and smiled. "I would expect nothing more nor nothing less from a man like you." 


	6. Chapter VI: A False Hope

**Chapter VI:** A False Hope 

Private Souryo stood in the doorway to catch his breath, the sounds of battle outside deafened by the thick neosteel plating of the Command Center. The situation inside, however, seemed no better. Technicians, officers, and other various personnel scrambled every which way, some with boxes and crates in hand, all seeming to have their own agenda.

Rensha grabbed a nearby technician as he was running by. "Hey! Where's an officer I can report to?"

The technician, with a distressed look upon his face, seemed to ignore Rensha and tried to pull away, yet the firm grip of the battlesuit held the technician firmly in place. Rensha wasn't prepared to let the man go until he got his questions answered.

"I asked you a question, Ensign, I need to speak with a commanding officer immediately!"

The man finally stopped struggling and hastily answered, "Why would you need to talk with an officer? You're just a lowly grunt!"

Rensha griped the collar of the nervous technician and pulled him close to his face. "Because it seems like every idiot in this command center has forgotten to activate those missile turrets out there, and if we don't get those turrets up and running immediately, then this entire outpost is lost!"

"This outpost is already lost!" the man shouted. "Can't you see everyone evacuating already? There are dropships waiting at the starport to try and get all the key personnel off this rock. And if I'm lucky, I'll be able to get aboard. So let go of me!"

Souryo started to become irritated with the man. With the strength of the battlesuit assisting him, Rensha hoisted the technician up in the air by the collar, the sounds of the hydralisks clawing the door still very apparent. "If you don't tell me where an officer is, then perhaps I can introduce you to a couple of friends of mine outside this door!"

The technician eyes widened as he glanced from the red-faced marine to the door, then back again, as he realized the only way he was getting away from this man was to just give him the information.

"Try the command post at the top of the center. Most likely there'll be someone up there you can talk to, since that's where most of the officers gather. Not that it'll make any difference!"

Rensha let his grip slip from the man, causing the technician to fall to the ground. "We'll see about that."

The man scrambled to his feet and took off down the hall, not giving the marine a second thought. Rensha, with his own plans, hastily made his way deeper into the headquarters of Sector Outpost 21. As Rensha came to the lift that would propel him upward to the main control room of the facility, no guard approached him and no one requested some type of clearance from him. Normally a low-ranked marine would never be allowed into the control room, but with the chaos around him, everyone seemed to be preoccupied with more pressing matters than of some lone marine entering the command lift.

As the lift made its ascension towards the small control room atop the command center, Rensha flipped up his helm visor, which in turn toggled the sensors and targeting systems of his battlesuit offline. Souryo let out a small breath, trying to calm himself from the recent events. The thick plating of the lift and the surrounding shaft had all but nearly silenced the noise of the battle raging on outside, which suited Rensha just fine. He didn't even want to go to this desolate rock on the outer rim in the first place, let alone join the marines of Mengsk's newly established army, which was comprised of old Sons of Korhal rebels, turncoat Confederate Forces, and other ragtag groups. Then there were the few, himself included, who wanted to just live their own lives in peace, but were ripped away from friends and family because they just happened to be of ripened age and fitness for the duties of a marine.

Rensha himself had originally been "drafted" into the Sons of Korhal, a rebellious faction that had declared war on the leading power in the Terran Sector, the Confederacy.  
He entered the marines just before Tarsonis, the capital city on the primary planet of Tarsonis, had fallen to the Sons of Korhal and a new order rose to power, the Terran Dominion, with Mengsk, the leader of the Sons of Korhal, christening himself Emperor.

So now Rensha found himself here, in the middle of nowhere, on a small planet where he didn't want to be, serving and fighting for an Emperor he didn't even want to serve. Rensha just gave himself a small shrug. Such is life.

A small tone indicated the lift had reached the top, followed closely by the doors parting. Greeting him was a technician carrying a heavy crate rushing right towards him trying to make it into the lift. Rensha quickly stepped out of the way, letting the man pass. The young private scanned the room, and surveyed the grimly scene before him. Half the command room was destroyed, with numerous computer consoles destroyed from the toppled support beams that now lay across them, the bodies of the technicians still facing their broken monitors because of the beams that crushed them. There were numerous small fires that were still aflame from the electrical shortages of the computers, and a couple men were struggling to put them out. A large gaping hole on the roof was located amongst the damage, which signified some type of large explosion must have caused the devastation. Yet amongst this scene, men were still throughout the room, some in officers clothing, others not, as they tried to keep the outpost operational.

His eyes stopped on a man towering over a technician that was seated at one of the few remaining consoles that were still operational at the far end of the small square room. The man was defined as an officer only by the small, sophisticated comms unit located along the side of the helmet, as well as the insignia of a leaf running alongside the shoulder pad of the armor signifying the rank of Colonel. The officer's combat armor seemed to dwarf that off the technician's lightly armored suit as he stood over the man issuing orders.

Even though the face of the officer was hidden, Rensha figured he was the commanding officer of the sector. Rensha had never met the man nor spoke with him, which was considered fortunate in the Marines. Unless you're about to be shot for misconduct, a marine grunt such as himself would never meet face to face with the Colonel. The reputation of Colonel Brock Durrington was one that kept men quiet and kept them busy.

Private Souryo hesitated for a moment, wondering what the consequences would be for entering the control room without clearance and addressing the Colonel instead of relaying the information to his own superior officer. Such negligence would most likely get himself shot, but Rensha realized they were all dead anyways unless the missile turrets were to be activated.

The private, gathering up his composer, strode up to the Colonel, saluting as he began to speak. "Sir, Private Souryo here to report news on the battlefield."

The officer, not glancing away from the technician and the console screen, gave a gruff answer to the private standing behind him. "Boy, why the hell are you up here? Where is your commanding officer?"

Rensha quietly cleared his throat. "Sir, my unit was almost completely decimated by a guardian, sir, which was the reason for my coming up here."

Colonel Durrington gave a small growl and turned from the terminal and faced the marine. "Boy, you got a lot of nerve comin' up here. So spit it out already. I'd shoot you now but we need all the men we can get."

"Sir, our wraiths are too few, and the men on the ground are getting overwhelmed by the Zerg air attacks. We need those missile turrets activated if we are to have any chance of surviving this attack."

The Colonel gave a hard glare at Rensha. "Do you think I'm stupid, boy? Of course I'd activate those turrets if I could. But you see, we seem to be having a small problem up here." Durrington then proceeded to point across the room to a console that hard a large support beam protruding from the top, the crushed unit still sparking from the destroyed circuits inside.

"So as you can see, private, there is no way of activating those turrets, unless you want to manually override each individual turret one at a time. So if you're through with your complainin', perhaps you'd like to head back out there and start defending this base like you are supposed to be doin'!"

Just as Rensha was about to turn and leave, a man at the far corner of the room shouted out, "Lookout!!"

Rensha whirled in the direction of the shout, just in time to see three mutalisks fire glave wurms at the command center. Rensha dove to the ground, as did most of the men inside the room as the wurms impacted on the already damaged control center. Two of the wurms connected on different points of the rubble, the surrounding acid of the wurm eating away more of the support structures. One of the marine guards found himself in the middle of the path of the third, and the wurm sliced its way clean through the marine, effectively cutting his upper torso in half. The remains slumped to the floor, the armor melting away from the acid that attached itself to the marine.

Rensha immediately brought up his Gauss rifle as he laid on his back, firing vainly up at the mutalisks as they swooped low over the control room. Everyone quickly struggled to their feet, the Colonel barking out orders within a heartbeat.

"Lieutenant, get everyone out of here, we are evacuating immediately!" shouted Colonel Durrington to another man in the room. "Make sure all the key personnel reach the starport as soon as-"

"Colonel, get down!!" Rensha shouted.

The Colonel turned, only to be faced with a mutalisk bearing straight in on him. Before he could react, the mutalisk swooped in low, firing a glave wurm mixed with a splurge of acid at point blank range. The wurm sliced its way through the upper shoulder of the Colonel, knocking him backwards, with the acid following close behind as it impacted across the entire upper section of the standing officer. The Colonel screamed in agony as the acid quickly began to eat its way through the armor and onto his flesh. Rensha rushed over to the struggling officer, trying desperately to remove the battlesuit. But the acid was too quick, as Rensha was forced to pull away and watch as the Colonel Durrington slowly stopped struggling and fell silent.

The Lieutenant that Durrington addressed stood in shock, and Rensha shouted towards the man to get his attention. "Lieutenant, we need to get out of here, now!"

The man shook his head, coming to his senses and turned to the remaining men in the room. "You heard the Colonel, men, evacuate the building immediately. Leave everything behind. This world is theirs."

What few men remained stumbled into the lifts, making their way down into the lower levels of the command center. Rensha joined the Lieutenant in a lift as the doors slid shut and began its descent.

"What's your name, private?" The Lieutenant asked as he turned towards the marine next to him.

"PFC Rensha Souryo from Squad 6A of Delta Platoon, sir."

"Is there anyone left from your unit, soldier?"

The marine slightly lowered his head. "Not that I know of, sir."

"Damn these Zerg," was the Lieutenant's only reply.

The lift soon reached its destination. Rensha began to step out of the doorway, but was greeted by a hail of needles pelting the wall in front of him. Quickly jumping back into the lift, Rensha turned to the Lieutenant. "There's a hydralisk guarding the end of the corridor."

"Well, you're the only one with a gun here, private. So shoot the damn thing."

Rensha smirked, then leaned out of the lift, gun raised as he fired off a continuous stream of spikes at the creature, who snarled out in pain from the sudden impact. The hydralisk retaliated by rearing back its carapace and releasing another burst of needles towards Rensha, who in turn quickly ducked back in before his face was made into mulch.

"Man those things are tough," Rensha said in frustration.

After the needles impacted the doorway, Rensha leaned out again, this time aiming for the opened slits in the carapace. Firing off a few bursts, the rounds impacted the hydralisk, slamming into the unprotected openings. The beast howled out in pain as it crumpled to the ground, the wounds too great for it as it succumbed to death.

"Nice shot," commented the Lieutenant.

"Let's get out of here," replied Souryo.

The two men hastily made their way through the damaged compound, soon coming to the torn-open door of the command center. After stepping past the mangled piece of metal and into the eerie night, the site before Rensha seemed to have gotten a hundred times worse since he was last outside only a few minutes before. Most of the buildings were on fire; the few of what remained of the terran defenders running past the wreckage as they fired rounds off behind them towards the mass of darkness that rapidly swarmed over them.

"My god," said the awe-struck Lieutenant.

"Well, let's hope he's on our side tonight," replied the marine next to him.

As if to answer him, Rensha spotted a vulture hover-bike resting up against the side of one of the support thrusters on the command center.

"Look, over here," said the private as he ran to the bike, "Doesn't look like it's in too bad of shape. This may be our ticket out of here."

The Lieutenant glanced up towards the location of the starport and noticed a couple of the dropships lifting off from the platform. "Well, you might want to hurry if we're to catch a ride out of here."

The men mounted the vehicle, with Rensha handing his gauss rifle back to the lieutenant. "Cover us while I drive us out of here."

"You got it."

The engine of the vulture roared to life as Rensha hit the ignition switch, with the bike soon speeding off towards the starport as it left a small dust plume in its wake. The starport began to rapidly close in fast as Rensha pushed the bike to the limit. The lieutenant began spattering off a few rounds into any Zerg that tried to intercept the vehicle, even though most of the creatures were too slow to gain on the speeding bike.

All of a sudden Rensha shouted out from the front of the seat as he pointed up and in front of their heading. "Mutalisk!"

The Lieutenant quickly brought the rifle to bear, spouting off round after round towards the incoming creature. A few of the rounds connected, but did not stop the mutalisk. Rensha quickly jammed the handles to the right, in turn barely dodging the strafing run made by the flying beast. The mutalisk, however, soon turned and began to make a second approach towards the craft. However, the Lieutenant steadily took aim and let off a solid stream of spikes at the incoming foe.

This time the hail of bullets was too much for the mutalisk, and the flying creature came crashing to the ground, crushing a few charging zerglings beneath it. The Lieutenant howled in victory and soon they arrived at the starport, the vehicle coming to an abrupt halt at the base of the structure. The two men hopped off the vehicle and entered the nearby lift, which took them to the top where the huge landing platform was located.

"I sure hope there's a dropship left," stated Rensha as the lift slowed its ascent, "or we're screwed."

To both men's relief, a final dropship sat in the middle of the platform, the thrusters prepped for launch as the pilot waited for a couple personnel to finish boarding the ship.

The pilot saw the two men and waved his arm as he motioned to enter the dropship. "Hurry up, or I'm leavin' without you!"

The Lieutenant and Rensha soon stepped up the ramp leading into the dropship, the shuttle pilot following closely behind, as he toggled a nearby switch that began to raise the ramp. "You boys are lucky you got here in time. I wasn't about to wait around any longer. Find a seat and buckle in tight. This is probably going to be a rough ride."

After the door hissed shut, the pilot made his way to the front of the bulky craft, and initiated the thrusters to full power, propelling the craft away from the platform and from the burning base below them.

"I've got incoming mutalisks!" shouted the pilot to the back room packed with various personnel. "Hang on, this is going to be ugly!"

Soon the ship began a steep dive as the pilot began evasive maneuvers to try and shake the mutalisks off his tail. Rensha felt his stomach give way a little as the ship suddenly arched upright, followed by a quick rotation to the left as the shuttle made a sharp banking turn.

Without warning an explosion rocked the front of the shuttle, silencing the pilot as the ship began a deadstick dive towards the planet surface. Screams echoed inside the shuttle as it tumbled through the atmosphere, rapidly closing the distance between itself and the rocky ground ahead. Rensha gripped the side of his chair just before the dropship impacted and could only hope that he made it out of this alive.


	7. Chapter VII: Eye of the Storm

**Chapter VII:**

**Eye of the Storm **

A noise. Buzzing. No, rather beeping. Captain Ellior's senses came to as his brain awoke to the all-to-familiar, yet still annoying, sound of the alarm clock resting on the small nightstand next to his bed. James struggled to outstretch his arm, slamming it down on the alarm clock to terminate the ever-persistent device. Slowly peering his eyes open, he glanced at the time shown on the small clock. His eyes suddenly focused in, his senses sharpened, as he read the numbers.

Realizing he overslept, his body fully awoke as he jumped out of bed and ran into the shower. After taking less than ten minutes to get ready, a knock was heard on his door. James struggled to get his shirt on as he grasped the handle to the entrance of his room. Standing there was Maria Emmit, Admiral Cyric's personal assistant, the usual happiness in her face still apparent, even after the seemingly endless journey to the Terran Sector.

"Good morning, Captain. The Admiral has requested that you visit him in the command bridge before you head to the hangar to prep the fighters for launch."

James nodded in response as he fastened his flightsuit's last strap. "Ok. Tell him I'll be there momentarily."

"Very well, sir."

James smiled. "Come on now, Maria. I thought we agreed to skip formalities."

Ms. Emmit smiled in response. "Sorry, James. Old habit. I'll try to remember next time."

"Now that's more like it," James replied with a light chuckle.

"I'll let you finish getting ready. I'll inform the Admiral you'll be there shortly."

"Ok, thanks."

-----------------------------------------

Watching the viewports while in warp speed always fascinated Captain Ellior. The swirls of black and white streaming by as they converged to a center point, along with the slow rotation, seemed so mesmerizing, as if he were to be put into a trance at any moment.  
"Captain Ellior," stated Admiral Cyric, effectively breaking the Captain away from his daydreaming, "I'm assuming your men are prepared for the mission ahead?"

James nodded to the man next to him, as he continued to stare out the viewports. "They are."

"Good. It's been a long journey, hasn't it?" asked Cyric.

"Yes, but it's coming to a close soon."

Cyric stood there for a moment before continuing. "Our first destination is a small, outer-rim planet called Keyant. The Terran Dominion set up a small outpost on that desolate rock. Since DuGalle's last transmission stated that there was a truce between the Dominion, Protoss, and ourselves, we will not open fire unless fired upon. If the truce is still in place, I don't want to cause any unnecessary conflicts, however we still need to remain on our guard. We need to get in contact with that outpost and see if we can get any information with regards to the position of DuGalle's fleet."

A technician seated at a nearby console interrupted the two men in conversation. "Admiral, ETA to the Terran Sector, ten minutes."

The Admiral acknowledged the man then turned back to Ellior. "You might want to head down to the hangar now and prep your men for launch, in case we run into anything once we come out of warp."

"Right away, Admiral," stated James, as he turned around to exit the bridge.

"Captain?" asked Cyric, prompting James to turn around.

"Yes, Admiral?"

"Good luck."

Ellior smiled. "Thank you, sir."

-----------------------------------------

"Alright, everyone, listen up." Ellior addressed towards the pilots sitting before him in the small briefing room overlooking the hangar that housed the squadron's wraith fighters. "We will be coming out of warp at a small planet called Keyant, located here," stated the Captain as he pointed to a small holographic image of space.

The image than enlarged to the planet, showing a small outpost amidst a barren, yet rocky landscape. "This outpost, Sector Outpost 23 to be exact, belongs to the Terran Dominion. I don't want anyone of you to start getting trigger-happy out there. A truce has been called between us and the Dominion, so unless we are fired at, keep your weapons in check."

"Now, there are no plans as of yet to actually touch down on the surface. The battlecruiser will keep a low orbit over the planet, and will try to contact the outpost from there, to see if they have any information as to the whereabouts of DuGalle and the UED fleet. During this time we will have our fighters prepped for launch in case we are needed for whatever reason. If all goes smoothly, then we shouldn't even have to leave the hangar."

"Should a detachment be needed to be sent to the surface for any reason, Gold flight will escort the shuttle down to the surface and provide air support for the troops. Red and Blue flight will remain in orbit with the Nemesis II as escort duty."

James switched the holographic image off. "Now, if all goes as planned, terrific. Should things go the way we don't want them to, just keep a cool head and keep your wingman in mind. Work as a team and we shouldn't have a problem. Dismissed."

As the pilots stood up and made their way out of the briefing chamber and into the adjoining hangar, Greg approached James with a smile on his face. "Nice speech, Cap'n. Any reason that I should be worried?"

James lowered his head slightly and gave a small laugh. "No, Greg. You know as much as I do. Come on, let's go relax in our cockpits and wait for this mission to be over."

James' wingman shook his head. "Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"

"Because you always have a bad feeling about everything," retorted James to his friend.

"Yeah well, I think this time I might actually be right for once."

James looked towards Greg before they parted ways to their own separate fighters. "Well, for our sake lets hope your wrong."

-----------------------------------------

"Coming out of warp speed in five… four… three… two… one…" stated the navigation technician on the command bridge as the viewports showed the swirling blur of white and black slowly separate and reveal multiple stars amidst a blackened void, with the planet of Keyant covering the bulk of the view in front of them.

"Larsan, give me a scan of the surrounding space immediately in addition to a scan of the planet surface, concentrating near the location of the Dominion outpost." Cyric requested.

After a few seconds the man reported back, "Admiral, surrounding space appears clear. As far as the planet surface, various indigenous life forms scattered throughout the surface. The Dominion outpost also shows lifeforms throughout it."

"Corporal Danos, contact the outpost and let them know who we are and why we're here. Larson, keep me up-to-date with those scans. I want to know if anything moves down there."

The Corporal typed in a few numbers on his computer console, then said over the small intercom in front of him, "Dominion Outpost 23, this is the Nemesis II of the UED fleet, do you copy, over."

A few seconds went by in silence before the technician tried again. "Dominion Outpost 23, this is the Nemesis II of the UED Armed Forces requesting information. Do you copy, over."

Again, time went by in silence as the radio received no signal. "Corporal, try another frequency."

Corporal Danos hit a few keys again and then repeated the message. As before, static was the only sound coming from the speakers of the intercom.

"Dammit, this just had to be difficult, didn't it?" Cyric said in frustration. He turned to the nearby marine that stood a few feet behind him. "Sergeant Brockton, get your men to the hangar and head down to the surface. Make sure to land outside their perimeter defenses. I don't want them blowing you out of the sky thinking we're hostile. If they are still down there, figure out why their dang communications aren't working."

The marine saluted swiftly. "Yes, sir." He then turned and began to head out of the command bridge.

Cyric thought for a moment, then spoke to stop the Sergeant from exiting the bridge. "Sergeant Brockton."

The man turned and faced the Admiral. "Yes, sir?"

_God I'm going to regret this, _Cyric muttered under his breath. "Take Lieutenant Smith of Intel with you. You might need his services, should things go wrong."

Brockton nodded his head at the Admiral's request. "As you wish, Admiral." He then turned and exited the room.

As the door closed behind the Sergeant, Cyric turned to Corporal Larson. "You said there were lifeforms inside the base?"

"Yes sir. If the Dominion abandoned this outpost, it's probably local wildlife making their home among the remains."

Admiral Cyric shook his head. "We can't be too sure of that. We need to take extra precautions on this one. I don't want to lose any men today."

-----------------------------------------

"Gold One, do you copy."

James straightened up inside the small cockpit as the intercom announced his callsign, toggling the switch to activate the small unit built into the front panel.

"Gold One here, Admiral. What's the news?"

The radio crackled slightly as the response came in. "Communication was unable to be reached with the base. Might be a bad link on their end. I'm sending down Raven Squad to check it out. I want you to escort the shuttle down to the surface as planned and provide close-air support to the men."

"Roger that, Admiral. I'll deploy the squadron immediately." James turned a knob that dialed in the frequency of the squadron that lay dormant in the hangar around him, each pilot waiting inside his or her cockpit.

"21st squad, listen up. Comms are down on the surface below. Ground forces are being deployed and we're to escort them. Plan will follow according to briefing, with Gold flight escorting the shuttle and providing close-air support, while Red and Blue flight will remain in orbit around the battlecruiser. Alright everyone, let's do it."

The engines on the A-17/G wraith-class fighter hummed to life as switches were turned and dials were set. The rest of the squadron followed suit, and soon the entire hangar was filled with the high-pitched thrum of the agile fighters. James gently pulled back on the stick, which in turned raised the noise up slightly as it slowly lifted the fighter off the hangar deck. Touching forward on the throttle, the craft slid out of the hangar, with the other fighters following in unison. The dropship carrying Brockton's marine squad came out of the adjacent hangar and began it's descent towards the planet surface, with Gold flight soon linking up with it.

It was only a matter of minutes before the small force burst through the atmosphere of the planet with the small Dominion outpost coming into view. "Boy, remind me not to ever visit this place again. What a wasteland." Greg crackled through the intercom.

"Shuttle Deliverance, Gold One here. Make sure you land outside their perimeter defenses. If they're hostile, we don't want to get blown out of the sky just yet."

"Copy that, Gold One. I'll land the squad on that small plateau over there to the west. It's outside the range of those missile turrets."

The shuttle came to a halt on the small plateau, it's landing thrusters initiated as it touched down. The hatch underneath the shuttle lowered, and Raven squad filed out quickly, guns raised.

"Deliverance, Raven leader. It'd be nice of you to stay put here in case we're in need of a quick evac."

"Roger that, Raven leader. I'll be here."

"Raven squad, this is Gold One. We're going to keep a holding pattern around the shuttle to keep out of their turret range. You holler when you need us, and we'll be there within a flash."

"Sounds good, Gold One. You let us know if anything strange shows up on that radar of yours. Raven squad, let's move out. Delta formation, firebats in the rear. Lieutenant Smith, you stay with me at all times." James watched as the group of thirteen men descended the plateau, the servos in their armor boosting their running speed as they glided down the mountainside. He kept the intercom tuned to the squad's radio frequency, in case they were in need of assistance.

--------------------------  
COMMS>online / set-frequency> 169.34 / Transmissions received: start-0824

Frequency>169.34 Raven Squad/Sgt. Brockton, Squad-leader  
--------------------------

Begin-signal:

Lt. Smith-Intel / 0824 - Man, why the hell do I only get a needlegun?

Sgt. Brockton / 0824 – Because you're a non-combatant, that's why. Consider yourself lucky you got anything. Now keep your mouth shut and the channel clear.

Cpl. Martin / 0825 - Sarge, nearing outer perimeter of base. Still no movement.

Sgt. Brockton / 0825 - Copy that. Keep…sharp eye on… bunkers.

Pvt. Clayton / 0825 - I hate these damn comms. Can't hear… thing outta them.

Cpl. Martin / 0825 - Sir, they said they were getting life-form readings within the base, right?

Sgt. Brockton / 0825 - That's right, Martin.

Cpl. Martin / 0825 - Then why… picking up nothing?

Sgt. Brockton / 0825 - Your guess is as good as mine, Corporal.

Pvt. Nesh / 0825 - These pansies probably heard us comin'. Probably were… scared for a good fight.

LCpl. Anderson / 0825 - You an idiot, boy? One squad of marines couldn't take on an entire base defense.

Pvt. Nesh / 0825 - Who you callin' an idiot, you over-grown sack of meat?

LCpl. Anderson / 0826 - You want me to come over there and try out my new polished flamethrowers, boy?

Sgt. Brockton / 0826 - Enough… both of you. Keep the comm channel clear. It's hard enough hearing outta… things without you guys cluttering… up.

Pvt. Lewis / 0828 - We're within range of their bunkers, Sarge. Moment of truth.

Sgt. Brockton / 0828 - Spread out, men. I don't want them taking us all out at once. Lewis, try to contact them now.

Pvt. Lewis / 0828 - Roger sir… Dominion Outpost 23, this is Raven squad of the UED Armed Forces. Do you copy…

Pvt. Lewis /0828 - Nothing… but static sir.

Sgt. Brockton / 0829 - I want two teams. Martin, take Wellington, Kursov, Johnson, Nesh, and Garmon. Move up… northern side of the base and sweep eastward. The rest of you, follow me. We'll cover the southern end.

Cpl. Martin B-1 / 0829 - You heard him. You men, on me. Let's go!

Pvt. Nesh B-3 / 0831 - It's awfully quiet here, Corporal.

Pvt. Johnson B-4 / 0831 - He's right, sir. This place looks abandoned.

Cpl. Martin B-1 / 0831 - Sarge, you… up… on your end?

Sgt. Brockton A-1 / 0831 - Say again, Martin? I'm losing you.

Cpl. Martin B-1 / 0831 - I said are you seeing anything on your end?

Sgt. Brockton A-1 / 0831 - Negative, Corporal. Not a thing. Not even a cricket. Either the systems on the battlecruiser were malfunctioning, or these guys split as soon as they knew we were comin'.

Pvt. Nesh B-3 / 0831 - See, I told you they probably split.

LCpl. Anderson A-6 / 0831 - You're lucky I'm on… other side of the base or I'd…

Sgt. Brockton A-1 / 0831 - I said keep the comm channels clear of chatter! I swear if I hear one more word outta you guys about this I'll bust you both into the lockup faster than you could say fried zergling.

Pvt. Clayton A-2 / 0832 - Sir, I've noticed some damage on the surrounding buildings. Looks like… base has been hit… few times.

Pvt. Carter A-3 / 0832 - Yeah, doesn't look normal though. It's almost as if the metal… melted away. There aren't any blast shards or explosive damage on them.

Sgt. Brockton A-1 / 0832 - It wasn't human, whatever hit this base. Must've been either the Protoss or the Zerg.

Cpl. Martin B-1 / 0835 - Sarge, we're at the barracks. I'm sending a couple guys in. Wellington and Kursov, check the building.

Pvt. Wellington B-2 / 0835 - Door's sealed shut. Breaching… now.

Pvt. Wellington B-2 / 0835 - Door breached. Move in!

Pvt. Wellington B-2 / 0835 - First room clear.

Pvt. Kursov B-5 / 0836 - Wellington, what the hell… this crap?

Pvt. Wellington B-2 / 0836 - Well it looks like… Dammit, Corporal we got infestation here! There's creep growing all over the walls and floor.

Cpl. Martin B-1 / 0836 - There's what?!

Pvt. Wellington B-2 / 0836 - I said we got creep in here! This place was hit by…

Pvt. Kursov B-5 / 0836 - What the hell was that?

Pvt. Wellington B-2 / 0836 - What was what?

Pvt. Kursov B-5 / 0836 - I thought I saw something move… there. Behind those crates.

Sgt. Brockton A-1 / 0837 - Martin, what's going on over there? Report in!

Pvt. Kursov B-5 / 0837 - There, did you see that?

Pvt. Wellington B-2 / 0837 - See what?!

Pvt. Kursov B-5 / 0837 - There's something movin- On your left, watch it!

Cpl. Martin B-1 / 0837 - What the hell's going on in there? Wellington, report!

Pvt. Wellington B-2 / 0837 – We… Zerg… in here! Numerous contacts! Pull back, Kursov!

Pvt. Kursov B-5 / 0837 - Jesus, where'd these guys come from? It's like there spawning out from the walls!

Cpl. Martin B-1 / 0837 - Wellington, Kursov, get the hell outta there! Make…

Pvt. Kursov B-5 / 0837 - They're behind us! Watch it!

Cpl. Martin B-1 / 0837 - …the barracks. You hear me? Get to the front of the barracks now!

Sgt. Brockton A-1 / 0838 - Martin, get your men out of there and make your way south to us. We'll rendezvous in the middle.

Pvt. Lewis A-4 / 0838 - Sarge, I got numerous contacts bearing east, north, and west from our position!

Sgt. Brockton A-1 / 0838 - Range?

Pvt. Lewis A-4 / 0838 - Twenty-five to thirty meters and closing!

Pvt. Kataerski A-5 / 0838 - I've got badies comin' on the right!

LCpl. Anderson A-6 / 0838 - Contacts, left side! They're clos-…

Pvt. Carter A-3 / 0838 - Damn, where did they come from?!

LCpl. Anderson A-6 / 0838 - …-eally fast!

Sgt. Brockton A-1 / 0838 - Take 'em out, now! Lieutenant, stay behind me!

Lt. Smith-Intel NC-1 / 0838 - Man, I wasn't trained for this kinda sh-…!

Cpl. Martin B-1 / 0839 - Wellington, where the hell are you?!

Pvt. Kursk B-5 / 0839 - Behind us! Look out!

Pvt. Wellington B-2 / 0839 - Aahh!… Get it off me!.. Jesu…

Pvt. Kursk B-5 / 0839 - Jesus, they're all over him! Oh god!

Cpl. Martin B-1 / 0839 - Get the hell out of there!!

Pvt. Kursk B-5 / 0840 - They… Wellington!… He's gone! Oh god, they're right behind me!

Cpl. Martin B-1 / 0840 - Nesh, Johnson, get up there and spray that corridor to give Kursk some cover! Go!

Pvt. Nesh B-3 / 0840 - Take this you bastards!

Pvt. Lewis A-4 / 0840 - God, they're everywhere!

Sgt. Brockton A-1 / 0841 - Group of 'em movin' up through the supply depots! Anderson, torch 'em!

Pvt. Johnson B-4 / 0841 - Hurry up, Kursk! Get your butt outta there! We can't hold 'em off forever!

Cpl. Martin B-1 / 0842 - Kursk is out! Keep firing… at… building! Garmon, light it up inside!

LCpl. Garmon B-6 / 0842 - With pleasure!

Sgt. Brockton A-1 / 0843 - Corporal, where are you with your men?

Cpl. Martin B-1 / 0843 - Barracks is torched, Sarge. Wellington…

Pvt. Carter A-3 / 0843 - Jesus, Sarge, we gotta get outta here! They're everywhere!

Cpl. Martin B-1 / 0843 - …moving to your position now.

Sgt. Brockton A-1 / 0843 - Say again, Martin. Repeat your last!

Cpl. Martin B-1 / 0843 – Wellington's down! We're… your way now. We'll see you…

Pvt. Johnson B-4 / 0843 - Bogies, bearing east and west from our position!

Cpl. Martin B-1 / 0843 - … the middle! Well then shoot the damn things Johnson!

Sgt. Brockton A-1 / 0844 - Gold One, we're getting swarmed down here. We could probably use your air support right about now!

"Roger that, Raven leader. We're on our way." James replied. "Gold flight, move in towards the base. Lasers only, it's too tight in there for missiles. Be careful what you shoot at! We got friendlies scattered throughout the outpost who just stirred up a hornet's nest."


End file.
